CARL REINER'S jovial reminiscence of his experiences as a stagestruck New York lad, vivified in the play "Enter Laughing," is hustled rather grossly onto the screen in an uneven film that Mr. Reiner has directed and produced.

A clue to what is basically the matter with this spottily funny job, which opened yesterday at the Victoria and Cinema I, is the fact that four secondary characters are conspicuously overplayed and plugged above the ambitious young hero who should be foremost and most forceful in the show.

José Ferrer as the aging ham who runs the sleazy "free theater" where the aspiring Ronald Colman is initially fledged and fleeced; Elaine May as the ham's twitching daughter who gets her thespian clutches on the youth; Shelley Winters as his worrying Bronx mother and Jack Gilford as his wry employer are all cutely worked into the picture ahead of or, at least, on a par with Reni Santoni, a newcomer, as the lad who yearns to be an acting star.

Why Mr. Reiner has done this cannot be said positively, but it appears he found Mr. Santoni not quite up to the demands of his role. Never mind that he isn't in a class with Alan Arkin, who originated it on the stage and uniquely adorned it with the abundance of his skill at mimicry. There is more in the role—more youthful passion, pathos and human quality—than even Mr. Arkin put into it. Mr. Santoni misses all this by a mile.

His David Kolowitz, stage-named Ron Colman, is just a big, clumsy, open-faced kid whose adventures with fraudulent professionals and the uncertain onlookers of his milieu provoke no more reaction from him than the fatuous fumblings of a goof. He simply does not display the shadings of native shrewdness, cunning, enterprise and the touching flashes of poignance that should manifest David far above the florid rascals and incompetents who think they are swindling him. In this presentation this lad is not an embryo pro, he's a talentless clown.

As a consequence, the film and Mr. Reiner depend mostly for the vintage laughs upon the well-seasoned hamming of Mr. Ferrer, the charmingly genteel burlesque of Miss May, the drolly Jewish characterization of Mr. Gilford and the comic etching of Jewish parents by Miss Winters and David Opatoshu. Don Rickles, Richard Deacon and Janet Margolin do appropriately in stock roles. Michael J. Pollard, who was in the original stage play, over-muggs the role of David's kookie friend.

A title song, which is made much of—especially at the end—is quite as garish and synthetic as the color photography.